Clinton Slams Trump's 'Cruelty' to Migrants, Reminded of Libya Crimes Online

17:41 GMT, 8 April 2019

The former presidential candidate and Obama-era secretary of state waded into trouble on Twitter after commenting on the resignation of Homeland Security chief Kirstjen Nielsen, whose efforts to secure the US' southern border with Mexico have been broadly attacked by Democrats for their alleged "cruelty."

Sputnik

Hillary Clinton weighed in on Nielsen's resignation online on Monday, saying the Trump administration's "dehumanisation and cruelty toward migrants will not stop" after she's gone, since it's their "principal policy."

The tweet immediately sparked a debate, with supporters thanking Clinton for her principled position and agreeing that with Nielsen gone, things will only get worse.

Others recalled the Clintons' own record of "dehumanisation and cruelty," however, reminding the former first lady and secretary of state of her husband's transgressions, the devastating impact of US sanctions against Iraq on Iraqi children in the 1990s, and Hillary Clinton's personal role in lobbying for the 2011 US airstrikes against Libya, which led to a humanitarian catastrophe in that country.

Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009-2013, lobbying in favour of the 2011 NATO-led bombing campaign against Libya, and supporting militants seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad starting in 2012. Clinton became the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, defeating Democratic rival Bernie Sanders but losing to Trump in the November 2016 elections. Between 1993 and 2001, Clinton served as first lady of the United States, supporting her husband's decision to bomb Yugoslavia in 1999 at the height of the Lewinsky scandal. From 2001-2009, she served as a senator from the state of New York, where she voted in favour of the 2003 Iraq invasion.